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Bas Rutten Bio

Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (born February 24, 1965) is a retired Dutch mixed martial artist (MMA) and kickboxer. He was the UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw). Rutten has beaten many MMA champions over the course of his career, including wins over UFC champions Frank Shamrock, Kevin Randleman, Guy Mezger and Maurice Smith, and wins over King of Pancrase world champions Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. He is currently the co-host of Inside MMA on HDNet.

As a fighter, one of his favorite tactics was the liver shot (both punch and kick), and he popularized its use in MMA. Rutten is known for his charisma and has capitalized on his celebrity since retiring from fighting in 1999. He has worked as a color commentator in several MMA organizations, including Pride, and has appeared in numerous television shows, movies, and video games. He also coaches MMA and has authored several instructional materials.

Early life

Rutten was born in Tilburg, Netherlands and became interested in martial arts at the age of 11 after watching Enter the Dragon. His conservative parents didn't allow him to pursue it at first. He started to train boxing at the backyard of an elementary school friend. He eventually started to train in Tae Kwon Do. He was very committed and eventually earned a 2nd degree Black Belt. He then began learning Kyokushin Karate, and earned a 5th degree Black Belt.

In high school, he was physically weak and had eczema on his hands for which he was bullied occasionally. Years later, he attended his high school reunion as a decorated fighter and issued a friendly challenge to fight his former tormentors, which they declined.

Fighting career

Kickboxing

At the age of 20 he started competing in Thai boxing. He fought 15 times and won the first 14, all by knockout in the first round. He was TKO'd in his final fight.

Pancrase

Rutten then began his professional mixed martial arts career with the Pancrase organization in Japan. In 1993, Japanese pro wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki traveled to Holland to scout fighters for their new "hybrid wrestling" (Bushido wrestling) organization, featuring submission fighting, but with no closed fisted strikes to the face. A precursor to what would become modern mixed martial arts, the organization was the first of its kind, and featured such early MMA names as Frank Shamrock, Vernon White, Maurice Smith, Ken Shamrock, and Guy Mezger.

Rutten would go on to dominate his first two fights in Pancrase, winning each fight by KO. Rutten's first knockout was so brutal that his opponent, Ryushi Yanagisawa (who was also the #4 ranked fighter in Japan at that time), had to be carried out of the ring and brought to the hospital in an ambulance where he spent 2 days recovering. Rutten's striking was so powerful that, according to Frank Shamrock, it would often intimidate the other fighters. Frank Shamrock said, "His kickboxing was devastating. It was something everybody feared. The other thing he had was a basic understanding of real fighting...Bas had that street fighter mentality."

However, his lack (at that time) of ground-fighting experience led to a loss to the extraordinarily skilled Masakatsu Funaki. Rutten, realizing the importance of ground fighting, went to train with the master catch wrestler Funaki. The training paid off, as Rutten would KO the previously undefeated Minoru Suzuki with a liver shot due to a knee to the liver. Rutten later said that this win was one of the happiest moments of his life.

Rutten would then go on to lose to future UFC champion Ken Shamrock via rear naked choke. He then lost a controversial split decision to Frank Shamrock in the first round of the King of Pancrase tournament. After impressively choking out expert grappler Manabu Yamada in his next fight, Rutten received a rematch and a title shot against King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock for the King of Pancrase title, but lost early in the fight via submission due to a kneebar.

After his second loss to Shamock, Rutten focused on grappling even harder than before and started training 2 to 3 times a day solely on submissions. Rutten would then go on to win 7 out of his next 8 fights by submission. He put together a series of wins against future UFC champions Frank Shamrock and Maurice Smith and eventually challenged King of Pancrase Minoru Suzuki for the title. Rutten would beat Suzuki for the second time, winning his first King of Pancrase title. After putting his title defenses on hold due to an injury, Rutten returned to the ring and beat interim King of Pancrase Frank Shamrock for the undisputed King of Pancrase title.

Rutten then avenged his loss to MMA legend Masakatsu Funaki in 1996 in what is considered to be one of the greatest fights in Pancrase history. Rutten described the war with Funaki in an interview:

Rutten then went on to defend his title against both Jason Delucia and Guy Mezger and in so doing became a three time King of Pancrase. In 1996, he relinquished his title in order to be present for the birth of his second daughter. Rutten returned to Pancrase, taking 8 more victories, bringing his unbeaten streak up to 19 straight fights.

Rutten left Pancrase as one of the most dominant fighters in the history of the organization. MMA legend Ken Shamrock was the only fighter in Rutten's career which did not avenge his losses to. In 2000, when Rutten was PRIDE FC's color commentator, a third fight with Shamrock was entertained. Rutten agreed to come out of retirement if it would be against Shamrock in a fight in PRIDE FC. However, Shamrock stated that he already beat Rutten twice and that a third time wasn't necessary. Later, in 2002, Rutten said that he would not want to fight Shamrock again even if it was offered to him because of the friendship they developed over the years, and that he would not be able to put his mind and heart into fighting Ken.

UFC

In 1998, Rutten signed with the UFC, the biggest MMA promotion in the United States. His first fight in the UFC was against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at UFC 18, which Rutten won by KO in overtime.

On May 5th, 1999, at UFC 20, Rutten faced Kevin Randleman for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. The first four minutes consisted of Rutten taking a lot of punishment from his guard. However, after the fight was stood up to check Rutten's cut, Rutten landed a devastating liver kick to Randleman's body to turn the tide of the fight. Randleman's pace slowed down considerably after the liver kick, which ultimately helped Rutten score judges' points by being the more active fighter. Rutten pounded away at Randleman from inside his guard, utilizing some of the best striking from the bottom position to that point in MMA history, using elbow strikes to open up cuts on top of Randleman's head and punching Randleman to the face. This fight went into overtime, with Rutten taking a split decision victory to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Judging at that point was not based on the current 10 points per round system, but who the judges felt won the fight overall.

Rutten vacated the title later in the year, in order to drop down to middleweight (now known as light heavyweight) a weight closer to his natural weight, in a bid to try and become the first person to hold a UFC title in two weight classes.

While training for his next UFC fight in 1999, Rutten suffered multiple serious injuries, including blowing out his knee (a long running injury), tearing his biceps, and suffering a neck injury. He was forced to retire from MMA competition for the time being, by doctors orders.

During his MMA career he became known for two particular things: his fondness of liver shots and his habit of doing a "Rutten Jump" (jumping split) after winning a fight. Rutten talked about the origins of the "Rutten Jump" on his website: "When I won my first fight in Pancrase, I was so hyped that I jumped up in the splits to each side of the ring. Why? I don't know. But, it became my trademark and I had to do it after every fight that I won."

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz has credited Rutten for inspiration during his early days. Ortiz said; "I looked up to Bas Rutten. Bas was my idol. People were just so scared of fighting him, he was like the man. I thought that was what I need to do now. If I train as hard as he does then one day I’ll be as good as him and two years later look where I am, I’m on top of the world. I’m got to say thanks to him, (Bas) for helping me out by making me believe in dreams."

Post-fight career

After his retirement from fighting in 1999, Rutten focused on becoming an actor, getting small parts on TV shows such as Martial Law, 18 Wheels of Justice, The King of Queens, and the Canadian series Freedom, as well as appearing in low budget movies such as Shadow Fury, The Eliminator, and the comedy short The Kingdom of Ultimate Power which was featured in the 2005 L.A. Film Festival. It also won the first prize at the short film festival in NY for "best comedy".

The Eliminator, 2004

Rutten wrestled a few times for NJPW from 2000 to 2002, including an IWGP title shot against Yuji Nagata, which he lost.

Rutten was also the color commentator for the English productions of Pride Fighting Championships events, calling nearly every event from Pride 1 through the 2005 Grand Prix. Known for his sense of humor and first hand knowledge of the sport, Rutten quickly became a fan favorite commentator. In April 2006 he announced that he would not continue to announce for Pride, due to the constant flying to Japan, and being away from his family every month.

Rutten has a cameo in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV" on the in-game TV show called "The Men's Room." He also did motion capture for the main character's fighting moves. He said that when he arrived at the motion-capture place in New York he asked the people in charge how violent they wanted to have it and they told him to "give it all he got". After two hours they stopped him and said, "It's OK, you don't have to go any further".

He was also featured in WCW vs. the World for the PlayStation, but was named "Thunder Dome" to avoid copyright laws.

On January 23, 2008, he was announced as the new Vice President, Fighter Operations reporting directly to IFL CEO Jay Larkin. His role was to build relations between the IFL and its fighters as well as work on potential match-ups between fighters. He also hosted the weekly shows "Battleground" and "International Fight League" with Kenny Rice. This all ended when IFL went out of business in late 2008.

Currently, he and Rice host Inside MMA, a weekly MMA variety show on HDNet. The pair also did remote English commentary and play-by-play for Dream events broadcast in North America on HDNet. The pair was eventually replaced by Guy Mezger and Michael Schiavello, who attend the events live in Japan. He is currently appearing in public health service ads, airing on Cartoon Network.

Coaching

He is certified as an instructor of both MTBN Thai Boxing and Pancrase.

Rutten coached Mark Kerr during the filming of the HBO documentary The Smashing Machine.

In 2006 Rutten was tapped to coach a team for the International Fight League, an MMA organization that focused on team combat. His team, the Anacondas, defeated the Silverbacks 3–2.

Rutten is an former investor in the Legends MMA gym in Hollywood and used to teach there occasionally.

Rutten is now a part owner of the MMA gym Bas Rutten's Elite Mixed Martial Arts in Thousand Oaks, California. He teaches an MMA class on Tuesdays.

He also trained former street fighter Kimbo Slice for his professional MMA bouts, as well as former Ring of Honor champion and NWA-TNA World champion Samoa Joe.

Last fight

On May 2006, Rutten announced his return to MMA competition. Cleared by doctors to fight again, Rutten was slated to face Kimo Leopoldo in the now defunct World Fighting Alliance on July 22, 2006, at The Forum in Los Angeles. Two days before the event, Kimo tested positive for Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. In place of Kimo, Rutten fought Ruben "Warpath" Villareal. Rutten took a first-round victory by way of technical knockout after low kicks left his opponent unable to stand. With that he brought up his professional record to 28 wins 4 losses and 1 draw.

Personal life

Rutten currently lives in Westlake Village, California with his second wife Karin and two daughters, Sabine (pronounced Sa-bee-nuh) and Bianca. He has another daughter, Rachel (pronounced Rah-SHEL), who lives with his ex-wife in The Netherlands.

Rutten got the nickname "El Guapo", which means "The Handsome One" in Spanish, after having breakfast in Japan with a table full of fighters. At the table he was talking to Tina Shamrock, Ken Shamrock's ex-wife, who was also present and is from Mexican descent. When Rutten asked what "El Guapo" meant, she told him it was "The handsome one". When fighters like Kevin Randleman left the table, they told Rutten, "See you later Guapo". Rutten stated that from that moment on other fighters started calling him "El Guapo", and the nickname was born. Rutten recently became a citizen of the United States.

Tattoos

Rutten has several tattoos, each of which is intended to help him spiritually and emotionally:

Championships and Accomplishments

• Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling
  • King of Pancrase Openweight Championship (1 Time)

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Heavyweight Championship (1 Time)

MMA record

Filmography

• Shadow of the Dragon (1992)
• Shadow Fury (2001)
• The Smashing Machine (documentary) (2002)
• The Eliminator (2004)
• The Vault (2005)
• The Kingdom of Ultimate Power (2005)
• Backlash (2006)
• Potent (documentary) (2008)
• Sinners & Saints (2009)
• Paul Blart Mall Cop (2009)

Works

• Bas Rutten's Big Book of Combat, Volumes One and Two (2002)
• Bas Rutten's Big DVDs of Combat
• Bas Rutten's Lethal Street Fighting (2003)
• Bas Rutten's MMA Workout (2001)
• Bas Rutten's Superior Free Fight Techniques
• Bas Rutten's "Extreme Pancrase" No-Holds Barred Fighting System
• Training with Bas Rutten "Never Back Down Special Features" 2008

External links

• Official website
• Bas Rutten commercial
• Professional MMA record for Bas Rutten from Sherdog
• Bas Rutten at the Internet Movie Database
• Inside MMA at the HDNet website
• Move It Movement Tour ad on Cartoon Network

MMA Shirts

Bas Rutten Photos